Concerns of a Vegan Diet

Please note that this section contains my personal notes from my readings on this topic.

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A strict vegetarian or vegan diet has certain drawbacks that are easily remedied. Vegan food is deficient in meeting the nutrient needs of most individuals for vitamin B12. If you or your children are following a complete vegetarian diet (vegan) diet, it is essential that you consume a multivitamin or a B12 source such as fortified soymilk.

Vitamin B12, not protein, is the missing nutrient in a vegan diet. To assure optimal levels of B12 in our diet, we require some form of B12 supplementation when eating a diet with little or no animal products.

Vegan food is deficient in meeting the nutrient needs of most individuals for vitamin B12. If you or your children are following a complete vegetarian (vegan) diet, it is essential that you consume a multivitamin or a B12 source such as fortified soymilk.

Vitamin D, often called the sunshine vitamin, is another potential deficiency in those not drinking vitamin D-fortified milk. Synthetic vitamin D is added to both cow’s milk and most brands of soy milk today.

It is especially important that young children receive vitamin D because a deficiency of it can cause bone abnormalities. Vitamin D is transmitted via breast milk as long as the mother’s stores are adequate. But as breast-feeding diminishes and children receive most of their calories from food, it is important to assure that they get vitamin D in the diet. So if breast-feeding, the mother’s vitamin D status is important, and if not breast-feeding, there should be an alternative vitamin D source such as formula or vitamin D-fortified soy milk or a children’s multivitamin with adequate vitamin D.

It is a myth that a vegetarian diet, rich in green vegetables, beans and whole grains, would likely be low in calcium or protein. Plant foods contain adequate levels of these nutrients. However, if a vegetarian diet is not carefully designed to include foods such as nuts, seeds, green vegetables, beans and whole grains, then levels of calcium, iron, zinc, and protein could be low.

Fish supply two nonessential fatty acides, EPA and DHA, that have been shown to have beneficial effects, offering protection against both heart disease and aging of the brain. They are called “nonessential” fats because the body can make EPA and DHA from the short-chain omega-3 fats found in nuts, seeds, and greens. To ensure that vegetarians get sufficient levels of these omega-3 fats, they need to consume foods such as flax seeds, hemp seeds, and walnuts on a regular basis. Then the body can take these short-chain fatty acides and convert them into the longer-chain (EPA and DHA) fats typically found in fish.

It is especially helpful for the child’s brain development as well as to prevent postpartum depression that pregnant and nursing mothers take a DHA supplement in addition to their multivitamin. This will ensure that the breast milk will contain adequate DHA. Children weaned from the breast should also have a source of DHA in their diet, such as children’s liquid DHA supplement or a multivitamin containing DHA.

Fish, which is the natural source of DHA, is simply too polluted a food to rely on as a DHA source for children. I do not recommend feeding young children fish in an attempt to supply them with their requirements of DHA. Instead, I recommend taking a clean DHA supplement and avoiding the possibility of mercury and petro-chemcial pollution found in most fish. Avoiding these pollutant is more important in infants, toddlers, and children, as their growing cells are more sensitive to the damaging effects of toxic pollutants.

If strict vegetarians are to have the potential to maximize their lifespan, it is even more important for them to avoid a high salt intake because salt intake increases blood pressure. Almost all of the soy-based meat analogues and many other health food store (vegan) products are exceptionally high in sodium.

Avoiding excess sodium may be even more important for a vegetarian than for an omnivore. Of course, excess sodium increases both heart attack and stroke death in all diet styles, but in a vegan, the high-salt diet is even more likely to rear its ugly head as a cause of late-life morbidity and mortality, especially since they will often live longer and not have a heart attack first.

Dr. Fuhrman’s daughter takes two Gentle Care Multivitamins, which gives her the extra vitamin D and B12 that she needs as a vegetarian / vegan, and one capsue of DHA Purity, a source of